Surprise!!

My new baby, Sombra, is settling down now and we have enjoyed some quiet cuddles, but he is very lively and his little claws are like needles. My neck and shoulders feel like they've been used as a pin cushion. He is still confined to one room, away from the rest of our animals, until he has finished his course of treatment. (When I told the vet I couldn't take him in for an injection on Sunday, she gave me a syringe to do it myself! I was a bit wary but it went OK and he didn't object too much). Anyway, the easiest place to isolate him is my craft room so he has been having fun in there. I keep the windows closed when I am busy elsewhere as he could easily get out around the mosquitoe net. But when I am working in there I have them open, and he likes to sit on the back of my chair and watch the birds in the green area at the back of us. Well he got a bit of a surpise today when he came face to face with Chico instead. He wasn't expecting that! He growled and spat, and Chico barked and barked. I can see we shall have to tread carefully when we introduce them next time. Here's a couple more pictures of him that I took this morning. He was playing 'peebo' with me across my desk. After his encounter with the dog, he has started sitting as close to me as he can get which is usually just on the other side of my computer keyboard.

This week I have been working on my lace again, and I have at last managed to finish my circle. This is the one that I did without help, and it did take me a long time to get started. There was a lot of undoing before I got it right. It is very fine thread, and I chose to put some colour in it. I like the look of it if it isn't too bright, and it helps me follow where I am going. Anyway, it is done now, except for sewing all the ends in, so here is the finished piece. I think it is rather pretty.

This weekend it was the fiesta of Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians) in Mojacar Pueblo. This is their main fiesta of the year and it is a truly spectacular event. Lasting for three days, it starts with the arrival of the Moors by sea with some jousting etc down on the beach, followed by a march up into the Pueblo, (the white village on a hill that often crops up in my photos), and the opening of the market stalls all around the main plaza at the top. On Saturday night there is a reinactment of the meeting between the Moors and Christians which resulted in an amical agreement. Then on Sunday evening there is a pageant when all those who have taken part, parade through the village and back down to the fuente at the bottom. We went to the Saturday parade last year with Dorothy and Jean who were visiting us, so this year we went to the Sunday evening one instead. It was rather nice at it started at 7.00 so it was still light and we were able to see everything clearly. There are many groups involved and each one has it's own distinctive costumes. We read that they hire these and they work all year to raise the money to do so. As they entered the main square, each group danced, chanted, and twirled around to show off their finery and then their leader did a piece with the leader of the next group and sort of handed over to them, and the first group set off down to the fuente. It took two and a half hours for the whole parade to pass, by which time the sun was setting and casting a rosy glow over the proceedings. There was an intersting piece in the middle when a cart was brought in by some scantily dresses and masked men who were twirling fire sticks and setting of showers of sparks. On the cart there was a woman and everyone started shouting "Bruja" which means witch. She was pulled down and tied to a wooden cross, and then a tub of wood at her feet was set alight so it looked as though she was burning! The first half of the parade was the Christians, and then it was the Moors, but I wouldn't like to say exactly where the changeover was. There were some Christians on horses and one had a little brown foal that did it's best to keep up with mum. Every time she stopped it tried to suckle her, but she didn't stay still for long enough. Later some Moorish princes arrived on camels, followed by some very elgant horses that danced for us. Then there were five birds of prey. One decided to take off, and it perched on the wires holding the lights across the square. His keeper had difficulty getting his attention with all the lights and noise, but he did eventually call it down. It is lovely the way all the families are involved. The children wear the same costumes as their parents, and they must be so hot. There was one tiny mite weilding a big sword with great gusto, and every now and then there was jeep-drawn float with losts of younger children on board. It was a really fun evening and I'm glad we went. I took 234 photos! but you'll be pleased to know that I have whittled that down to 60. I am only posting a few on here to whet your appetite. You can see the rest on my gallery (www.picasaweb.com/kayempea1947). Do take a look if you have a few minutes to spare. The costumes are so beautiful, and well worth seeing. On my gallery, the photos are in the order that they were in the parade, so you can see the light fading and the fiesta lights coming on. The later shots are not quite so clear, but I tried to include one of each group just to show their fabulous outfits.